The client, based in the German speaking part of Switzerland, is specialized in industrial automation. He developed the control systems for an industrial bakery located in the French speaking area.

The bakery is comprised of 3 complete lines, each made of three sections (first rise / second rise / bake) plus 2 supplementary sections (second rise and bake).

The client had to supply one user manual per section in French: 11 manuals totaling 247 pages or 39'000 words in the German original. All manuals have the same structure: general introduction, safety warnings, data (bread recipes!) and managing procedure. They are illustrated with screen copies (supplied already translated by the final customer, with varying quality that raised some difficulties in terms of terminological consistency).

As each line has some specific features, the instructions specific to the 3 "first rise" sections are similar but not identical, and some screen copies are also shared between lines. This is true also for the "second rise" and "bake" sections respectively.

This project seemed predestined for processing with a translation memory program, but I am not familiar with them and the deadline was too short to learn using one. So I chose following approach, one section at a time: - Print all manuals. - Identify which manual has the most basic "common core" for all lines. - Print the remaining manuals compared with the "basic manual", using Word's tool of comparing-merging two files (efficient from the 2003 vintage onwards). The tool is also able to compare the screen copies. - Translate and proofread the basic manual. Copy the basic manual and upgrade the translation according to the indications of the comparing-merging tool. Carefully proofread the resulting document. My proofreader and wife read the translated manual aloud while I checked the consistency with the original.

This complicated sounding approach resulted in translating all documents within some 13 working days instead of an estimated 26 days, for a price reduced by 57%.

Food & Drink, Engineering: Industrial

positiveSTAHEL Steuerungstechnik AG: No comment.

TranslationVolume: 10 daysDuration: Jan 2007 to Feb 2007Languages:German to French

Localization of an ERP software

Localization of an ERP software

The software, geared to the specific needs of NGO and charities, is especially oriented towards fundraising, donor and address management, fully supporting the specificities of the Swiss mass mailing and Postal payment system. The solution is based on Microsoft Dynamic NAV (formerly Microsoft Navision), a Financial management / Sales and marketing / Distribution / Purchase and Payables environment.

The German original is comprised of some 5100 "items", acting as screen messages in response to user interaction with the program. One item may be a single word or a full sentence.

The original had to be translated into French. An efficient and user friendly "Localization Workbench" is available, keeping track of the translation progress, identifying multiple entries (from two to more than twenty occurrences translated in one operation) and offering flexible search and replace. The author of the original was available at short notice for many questions and clarifications, including some terminological help.

Translating online was done directly on a server accessed via a Citrix tool, and there was practically no processing delay with my 3500 Kbps ADSL connection.

The job went on smoothly, lasting some 50 hours spread over 4 weeks. A peculiar difficulty aroused from not knowing when and where each item appears in the program flow. And up to now, I have had no user feedback re the translated program.

I am fluent in French, English, German and Swiss German. I also work as a conference interpreter and have been working since 1996 as a freelance technical translator. I will translate your English or German texts into French while fully taking into account their technical content. Every translation is proofread by a third party to check its style.

To the extent possible, all original formatting is retained, except where text length changes due to translation. You will not spend any time painfully reformatting your translated document to fit your original intentions.

The following file types are accepted:

- All versions of Word / PowerPoint / Excel
- Adobe Acrobat (text-based). Files will be converted to Word documents. There may be minimal loss of layout details for Acrobat files.

Terminological Consistency

Much attention is devoted to this important aspect of translation. Where possible, providing the resources below will greatly help the translator respect terminology that is specific to your company:

- Samples of similar texts that have been previously translated
- Documents on the same topic (in English, German or French)
- Your company's Web site address
- References to other sources (web addresses, etc.) that provide examples of the terminology specific to your discipline